Two great IBM
conferences were held in Las Vegas this year--IBM Pulse and IBM Impact.
However, I have to say that I truly envy the IBM
Rational Software Conference taking place from May 31-June 4,
since it will be at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida (where Pulse 2008 was held).
The effervescent ambience in the air is unparalleled. The awseome fountains are
a key contributor.

Tivoli fans will be pleased to know
that several Service
Management topics will be covered at the conference since the integration
of development and operational tools, data, and processes is essential to
improving the success rate of application deployments and improving service
quality. The topics will cover ways businesses can improve the integration of
development, test, and operations to simplify high-quality application
deployment, enhance provisioning, streamline problem diagnosis, and enable
effective service management. The
conference will include the following Service Management topics:

General Manager sessions

Al Zollar, General Manager of IBM Tivoli
Software, will participate in three executive sessions:

Description of how to use Rational test scripts with ITCAM for
Transactions

Overview of how to leverage the ITCAM products to help resolve
problems earlier in the application life cycle

Tivoli Birds of a Feather session

“Bridging the chasm between build,
deployment and production”--Rich Johnston

Abstract: Today’s IT departments have more
systems to manage, more locations to support and more mission-critical
applications to build, deploy and maintain than ever before. In many
organizations, the processes employed to move applications from build, to
deploy, to production phase can be manual, time-consuming and error-prone. The
data, tools, and workflows are not well integrated or automated resulting in
inefficient processes which inevitably lead to slower time to market, long
resolution cycles and even loss of revenue. This session offers a chance for
attendees to discuss issues, challenges and solutions for bridging development
and IT operations across different aspects of the application and service
lifecycle.

Abstract: The inability to quickly
identify application performance bottlenecks can lead to system downtime and
unnecessary cycles spent firefighting defects. See how ITCAM
can provide monitoring data from operations needed to better understand
performance characteristics prior to relase and speed correction of defects.

Abstract: Integration across application
development and configuration management tools is critical for complete
component life-cycle managmenet. With a Tivoli/Rational integrated solution,
customers can experience total application management from development to
deploymentt to operation.

---------------------

For those who can’t
attend the conference in Florida, check out http://www.remotersc.com for other
opportunities to participate in the Rational Software Software conference
experience.

We have a great new IBM addition to the Twittersphere this week: Dave Bartlett, IBM Vice President of Solutions for Industry Transformation. Dave has been blogging for awhile, but only recently joined Twitter under the handle @davebart.

This post is dedicated specifically to IBM Business Partners, but we encourage all security professionals to help make our world a better place to live. So read on.

If you haven’t heard by now, IBM will be talking security at the place where “the world talks security” next week—the RSA 2009 conference. On April 23, Brian Truskowski, GM of Internet Security Systems (ISS), will provide an RSA keynote on “Securing the Smarter Planet.” His talk will address how security professionals are in a key position to enable effective change to create a smarter planet as our world and systems become more instrumented, interconnected, and intelligent.

As an IBM Business Partner, you are critical to the success of using innovative security solutions to enable a smarter planet. We'd like you to join us in shaping this conversation and activity in new IBM Security social media channels on ibm.com, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Use this presentation to get a quick overview of these new channels and how you can help.

It’s Good Friday, and it not only has been a good, but a GREAT week. Did you hear? IBM made the list of Top 50 social brands for March 2009: “The Social Radar Top 50 measures the most social brands by the number of unique topics of conversation. These brands are top of mind for consumers and bloggers today.”

If you haven’t noticed by now. IBM’s presence is growing more and more in the social media arena. Below are some of the hot topics lighting up this space this month.

Ewwww, that almost sounds as decadent as eating chocolate. If you’re into networking with SOA strategists and architects, learning about real-life examples and benefits of SOA in action, then this event is for you. Dressed in character as an Imperial Servant, an IBM virtual guide will lead a tour of Virtual Worlds and share how SOA can solve architectural challenges, adding immediate value and business flexibility.

IBM will be showcasing many of its innovative security solutions at RSA conference and hosting many keynote sessions, pedestals, demos, customer appreciation events, and more. You can find out more in the following ways: